Falling 5 Gallon Buckets Prop

3002 Views 19 Replies 10 Participants Last post by Ironman, Sep 11, 2008

Empress Nightshade

Discussion Starter · Jan 15, 2007

I have approximately 30 - 5 Gallon Buckets that I desire to use in a scene called "Paint Therapy." Quite simply it's a UV room where the walls are splattered with florescent paint and paint brushes, drop cloths, a ladder, paint rollers and 5 Gallon buckets of "paint" piled up on each other all around.

I want to create a prop with quite a few of the buckets stacked on top of each other approximately 7' high. When the customer passes, I want a few of the buckets at the top to fall a few inches toward them giving the illusion they are all about to fall on their heads. This prop is to be manually operated by an actor. No pneumatics.

Can anyone give me ideas as to how to create this?

1 - 20 of 20 Posts

Frighteners Entertainment

· #2 · Jan 15, 2007

I think Ironman has this posted somewhere.
He had falling 55 gal drums, quit a nice effect.
I think your version would be a bit easier to pull off, due to the weight difference.

Empress Nightshade

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jan 15, 2007

Frighteners Entertainment said:
I think Ironman has this posted somewhere.
He had falling 55 gal drums, quit a nice effect.
I think your version would be a bit easier to pull off, due to the weight difference.

Posted on this forum?

Frighteners Entertainment

· #4 · Jan 15, 2007

I'm still looking for where it is, may be on the IronKingdom site?

If I find the link, I'll post it.
I'll call them to get the right source for you.

Front Yard Fright

· #5 · Jan 15, 2007

dread night from this forum has something like that but he used crates instead... you might want to try and contact him to see how he did it.
ps cool room idea!

ruafraid

· #6 · Jan 15, 2007

First off Happy New Year and I hear someone has a new addition to the family contrats on that and I hope mom and daughter are doing well.

If I were to do this I might try using hinges on one side of each bucket placed on the bottom of one to the top lip of the one below it to hide the hinge then drilling a hole in each one of the buckets on the other side and using a close line type of rope in between with knots on each end to limit how far each bucket can move from the bucket under it. Then the top bucket or the one that is the main release point I would tie another rope up through a pulley at the ceiling again another knot in the rope to limit how far the entire thing can fall toward the victims. The actor can release the rope from behind as well as reset the prop. Seems easy enough to make. ( I did a similar thing with a dropping spider ) I think you have to keep the first two buckets at the bottom held down to the floor so the bottom does not come loose or move and have the rest hinged together thus giving a good effect.

Hows that hit you ?

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Frighteners Entertainment

· #7 · Jan 15, 2007

Ok Gwen, IronMan will fill in all the blanks.
They have done many different versions of this idea.
More details to follow

BobC

· #8 · Jan 15, 2007

I saw a pneumatic effect similar to this in a haunt years ago. It used 55 gallon drums stacked 3 high and 4 wide when you walked by it the whole thing tipped towards you like all the drums were going to fall on top of you. can probably do the same thing with 5 gallon buckets. Later :jol:

Northern Touch

· #9 · Jan 17, 2007

I read on the other fourm that someone had more ideas on this topic I would love to see some other set-ups like this I think it would work well in my haunt.

Empress Nightshade

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jan 21, 2007

ruafraid said:
First off Happy New Year and I hear someone has a new addition to the family contrats on that and I hope mom and daughter are doing well.

If I were to do this I might try using hinges on one side of each bucket placed on the bottom of one to the top lip of the one below it to hide the hinge then drilling a hole in each one of the buckets on the other side and using a close line type of rope in between with knots on each end to limit how far each bucket can move from the bucket under it. Then the top bucket or the one that is the main release point I would tie another rope up through a pulley at the ceiling again another knot in the rope to limit how far the entire thing can fall toward the victims. The actor can release the rope from behind as well as reset the prop. Seems easy enough to make. ( I did a similar thing with a dropping spider ) I think you have to keep the first two buckets at the bottom held down to the floor so the bottom does not come loose or move and have the rest hinged together thus giving a good effect.

Hows that hit you ?

Thanks so much for the congrats! My little Grandbaby is awesome although the doc calls her "sensitive." That's just another way of saying she's not the easiest babe to live with right now, but she sure is the cutest!

ruafraid, your suggestions came on the heels of a good friend of mine called Midnight Evil. He's a member here, but lurks more than posts. His ideas of how to execute this scare parallels yours in most of the important ways. He also adds that the rope that the actor operates from the boo corner has a counter weight on it (gallon bucket filled with sand). That way, it will be impossible for the prop to engage unless an actor wants it too. The air cannon going off almost simultaneously to the movement of the buckets will add to the whole "falling" effect.

Northern Touch

· #11 · Jan 22, 2007

I would love to see some pics of this set-up

Ironman

· #12 · Jan 22, 2007

Sorry for the delay, but I had to search out the original pages that were no long posted to the web and get them back up. Anyway, here's my first falling barrel prop from several years ago.
http://www.theironkingdom.com/BarrelDrop/
We first used this gag when we were doing an outdoor trail. Since then the same concept has been addapted to falling walls, bookcases, stacks of old tires, gallon food cans, and so on, and so on. The original barrel prop show on this site still exist and work just as well as day one even with being stored outdoors most of that time. It's a great 'attention' getter and will put a full grown man to the floor very quickly. Good luck, and let me know if I can help in any way.

Northern Touch

· #13 · Jan 23, 2007

wow thats freaking great!!!!lol I knew it was a simple set-up but I couldn't wrap my mind around it...It will be a great prop for my prison kitchen scene...those pics were great and good how too I been looking for a set-up like this but had only seen it done with peumatics....thankz for the how too....

Empress Nightshade

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jan 23, 2007

Ironman,

thanks so much for that info!

Ironman

· #15 · Jan 23, 2007

Okay, here are a couple of really basic sketches for the falling wall. What I failed to draw in are the tether cables, but I think you can get the general idea. The cables attach to the upper portion of each of the wall segments and then to the stationary frame. These limit the drop of each panel to 15 degrees.
http://tinyurl.com/2aoybw
http://tinyurl.com/yvf6de
The mechanics for the Barrel Drop in the previous pictures is pretty much the same as the wall.
I hope this helps, but if you have questions, let me know.

Ironman

· #16 · Jan 30, 2007

Empress, when thinking about your remark on having quite a load of 5 gallon buckets, I happen to remeber an old web page I put up a few years back that may be of interest to you.
http://www.theironkingdom.com/Buckethead/
And here are a couple of pics of the same idea using plastic 55 gallon barrels.
http://tinyurl.com/ywxors
http://tinyurl.com/2hc6jo
The two 55 gallon versions were decorated with Great Stuff foam that added much more detail.

dflowers2

· #17 · Mar 12, 2007

Ironman, that falling barrel prop ROCKS! Thanks for sharing.

Zombie Manor

· #18 · Sep 11, 2008

Great idea. I really should learn how to weld.

sedgewickhotel

· #19 · Sep 11, 2008

a "quicker and dirtier" way to do it would be to cut holes in the bottom of the buckets and run a rope up through the buckets. Tie knots at intervals to keep the buckets where you want them. Then, you could have an actor loosen tension on the rope, push the buckets over and then they'd all as far as the rope would allow. Simply reset by pulling the rope tight again. The rope would need to be attached to the floor and maybe hoisted overhead through a pulley or something.

Obviously this isn't the "best" way to do it, but it would work if done right, and its very low budget.

Ironman

· #20 · Sep 11, 2008

After three years in storage, the Barrel Drop has been dusted off for this season. The barrels have been covered with 1/4" plywood strips, stained, and banded with steel strapping. They are now located in our new wine cellar scene. There is also a wooden wine rack with 64 plastic bottles that tumbles on the same principle as the wall and the Barrel Drop. I'll have to get some pictures posted.

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